Battlestar Galactica: New Earth
by rivalmagician
Summary: <html><head></head>It's not as if Lee hasn't got enough to deal with; a dead Cylon in the river, Kara and Tigh bickering like children and what the frak has Leoben been doing? It's probably just a normal day on New Earth...</html>
1. Chapter 1

**Battlestar Galactica: New Earth**

**Survivor Count:** 38,631

**Date:** 1116 days after the fall of the Colonies

46 days after arriving on New Earth

**Ithaca Colony, Southern Continent, New Earth:**

Ithaca. The colony that never sleeps though Lee sometimes wishes that it would. Having never experienced life on New Caprica, he was unhappily confronted with the reality that three thousand people all living in tents can be heard for miles around.

It wasn't just the distant chattering, snoring and general noise that people made that was keeping Lee awake. He missed the hum of Galactica, its old creaking and groaning that he hadn't really paid attention to until it was gone. He knew his father felt the same way but their discussion never really went beyond monosyllabic agreement. The loss of the Galactica was apparently too raw to talk about.

Lee wasn't complaining; far from it. Out of the thousands of planets in the galaxy, in the universe, they had been guided to this one. Whether it was by the Gods, God or just Kara's random entrance of a lucky group of numbers into the computer, Lee didn't really care. What mattered was they had found home.

It wasn't a utopia and it was never going to be a utopia. In fact, Lee was certain that there was no such thing as a utopia. They still faced the same crises that they had experienced in the fleet. The need for a steady supply of food that wasn't algae, clean drinking water and somewhere dry to live were their immediate concerns and had been solved quite quickly; thanks to strict degree of military organisation and Gaius Baltar's unexpected knowledge of agriculture. However, these rudimentary issues of human comfort were soon overshadowed by more complex problems.

To begin with they were never going to be able to all live together. Building a home for thirty eight thousand people from scratch was a bad idea and besides not everybody wanted to live together. So the Sagitterons had gone north, the Gemenons had decided to go east and numerous other groups had splintered and gone their separate ways. Most of the former Galactica crewmembers had stayed together to form the Ithaca Colony and had elected Lee their…President? Mayor? Well, he didn't have a title but he knew he was in charge.

So, once their population had been whittled down to three thousand, more problems arose and most of those problems involved the Cylons. Ithaca had around two hundred Cylons living among them, mostly sixes and eights but only a few twos. They gathered together, gaining and giving suspicious looks. Lee didn't blame them for sticking together; they were living with the enemy after all. Every human on New Earth had a reason to hate them. But they behaved themselves, making themselves incredibly useful in the construction of the new colony and throwing themselves into building the individuality that most of them seemed to envy of their human counterparts. Lee was no longer surprised to see a brunette six or an eight with aggressively short hair. He could even begin to pick out various Cylons from a crowd. One that he couldn't fail to notice was Sonja. Not because she stood out from the other sixes in terms of physical appearance but because she always seemed to be following him with some kind of grievance.

Apparently she had even built enough one-sided familiarity to burst into his tent at six thirty in the morning.

"Adama, wake up," she always called him Adama, never Lee, it made him feel old. Lee was, of course, only pretending to be asleep but he wasn't going to tell Sonja that, "It's important,"

"How important?" Lee gauged, not opening his eyes.

"Murdered Cylon in the river important," she told him darkly.

This got Lee's attention. He sat up quickly, ignoring the sudden head rush, "Are you sure?"

"Oh, I'm sure," Sonja assured him, "Now, hurry up before it gets light and people see the body,"

Ithaca was nestled in a green valley, at the base of a small mountain and by the banks of a fast running river that separated them from a large forest. It was picturesque, beautiful but completely spoiled by the collection of grim looking people standing around awkwardly.

Lee was greeted by Doc Cottle, who was kneeling by the side of the victim, an eight dressed in an ill fitting Galactica uniform which was common amongst most of the Ithaca colonists. She was lying on her back in the wet mud, soaked through with blue tinted skin and a bloodied stain that blossomed from her chest.

"Stabbed," Cottle explained grimly, "Could've been anything, scalpel, butter knife…but I'm guessing she was still alive when she was thrown in the river,"

Lee looked sadly down at the eight, who looked strangely small and broken. He turned away quickly, "Do you know her name?" he asked Sonja who was standing nearby with a distracted, wide eyed look.

"Um…yes," she coughed, "Christina…she was working on the new schoolhouse and living was a group of Cylons. She…she was very popular,"

"Who found her?" Lee asked. He was suddenly filled with an overwhelming desire to find whoever had done this and make sure they paid.

"The bridge crew," Cottle said, getting to his feet and lighting a cigarette unconsciously, "They arrived for work and came for me,"

A small group of grave looking people that Lee recognised as the former deck gang on the Galactica were standing a short distance away. They had been working by the river for the past couple of weeks, building a sturdy wooden bridge over the grey waters.

"Lee, what should I do with the body?" Cottle continued.

"Erm…take her to the infirmary but don't spread the news around until we get a chance to find out what happened," Lee instructed.

"I think it's quite clear what's happened," Sonja told him. Lee prepared himself for a long lecture, "This is clearly a hate crime,"

"A hate crime?" Lee said sceptically. He knew that there was a lot of anti-Cylon feelings out there but so far they had no problems apart from a few shouting matches and a couple of brawls outside Joe's Bar, "Let's not jump to conclusions before there's been a full investigation,"

"An investigation? Lee, we don't have a police force," Sonja reminded him, "Who's going to be investigating? A human? A Cylon?"

Lee pondered for a moment. He knew that Sonja would never be happy with a human leading the investigation, she'd feel put upon. But Lee didn't want to risk an overly emotional Cylon out for revenge being put in charge either, "I know," Lee grinned, coming to a conclusion, "Someone with a perspective into both sides,"

"Oh really, who's that then?"

Saul Tigh had taken a large gulp from the mug that Ellen had handed him and was expecting coffee. It should have been coffee; the liquid was brown and hot but it tasted like mud. Saul spat him mouthful back into the mug with all his usual grace.

"What the frak is this?" he demanded.

"Don't you like it?" Ellen asked, sounding surprised, "This last expedition found it growing in the foothills. Tastes kind of like coffee, don't you think?"

"No!" Saul exclaimed, scraping his tongue with his teeth.

"It supposed to be good for you," Ellen scolded, "Apparently lowers your blood pressure,"

"I'll take high blood pressure, thank you very much," Saul grumbled getting to his feet.

Saul and Ellen were living in a tent again, just like on New Caprica. Except it wasn't as cold, they weren't under the subjugation of the Cylons and Saul was pretty sure it wasn't all going to end with him poisoning Ellen again. They actually settled into quite a steady routine; they woke early, had breakfast then Ellen would act as a sort of go to person for every Cylon who had something to get off their chests while Saul would spend his day making maps of the surrounding area with Bill. They would meet up again in the evenings, talk about their day, go to Joe's or just stay in. It was pretty nice, actually. But a little dull.

Saul was having trouble coming down from being XO of a Battlestar to what was basically retirement. It was alright for Ellen, she had the other Cylons treating her like a mixture of mother, president and religious leader but Saul didn't feel like joining in and being looking at in awe by about two hundred Cylons who only a few months ago he supposed to hate.

Before Saul could complain about his drink anymore, or Ellen could make some crack about his blood pressure that would make him feel old, they were interrupted by the appearance of Lee Adama. Lee had always been a puzzle to Saul, whether it was having never had children of his own, or never seeing eye to eye with the younger Adama, he didn't know but Saul always expected him to be a bit more like Bill.

"Morning," Lee greeted them gravely.

"Good morning Lee," Ellen replied cheerily, "Do you want to sit down?"

"Erm…I've actually got some bad news," Lee said awkwardly, "The bridge crew found the body of an eight by the river this morning, her name was Christina. She had been…stabbed,"

Ellen's face fell dramatically, unlike Saul she remembered her maternal instincts toward her creations, "Who?" she asked breathlessly.

"We don't know, that's actually why I'm here," he said, turning to Saul, "Someone needs to lead an investigation,"

"Me?" Saul said bemusedly, "I'm no cop,"

"I know but you're no idiot…"

"Oh…thank you very much,"

"…and you're a Cylon who lived as a human," Lee concluded.

"No bias," Ellen concluded, "You need to do this," she told him grabbing hold of his hand.

"Alright," Saul agreed, "But didn't even know this eight…"

"You wouldn't have to do it alone," Lee added, "I've already thought of someone to help,"

"Do you mean like a sidekick?" Saul shrugged, looking around the tent for his boots, "This is beginning to sound like a bad detective story,"

"I'm nobodies frakking sidekick, Lee," Kara yelled, grabbing one end of a wooden plank with Brendan Costanza at the other, "Especially not, Saul frakking Tigh,"

"Come on," Lee urged following the pair through the building site towards the outer shell of a house that they were building, "I thought you and Saul got along,"

"We don't not get alone, is all Lee," Kara said, walking too fast for Brendan to keep up.

"Oh, so would you rather stay here and carry timber with Hotdog," Lee cut back at her.

"Hey," Brendan piped up.

"No offence," Lee apologised, "But you're always complaining about working here…"

"Lee…I'll be honest with you unless the next job you're going to give me is lying in bed with a bottle of ambrosia and cigar, I gonna complain," Kara retorted dropping the timber suddenly.

"Well, why not complain while solving a crime," Lee said pulling Kara away from the building site and leaving Brendan to carry the timber by himself, "Come on, didn't you ever read those old detective stories,"

"No, Lee, I didn't," Kara groaned, "Fine, but you owe me,"

"How do you work that one out?" Lee frowned.

"I don't know but you do," she grumbled, stalking off to find Tigh.

Tigh and Kara stood in silence looking at the mess of footprints that covered the river bank. The over excitement of the bridge crew who had discovered the body made it impossible to tell if any of them belonged to the killer.

"No good, huh?" Kara sighed.

"Let's go talk to Cottle," Tigh said, they were keeping their conversation to a minimum both wary of starting an argument that neither one of them would win or want to lose.

They walked in silence towards the only fully constructed building, the hospital.

"What I don't get is why she was all the way out by the river," Kara posited, "I mean the Cylons live all the way out on the other side of town,"

"Maybe she knew the killer," Tigh replied, "Maybe they were meeting,"

"Do you think it was a crime of passion?" Kara laughed, "Do we have any suspects, detective?"

"I don't know what the frak you're doing here, Starbuck," Tigh replied curtly, "You couldn't find your own tent, let alone a murderer,"

"That was one time and I was drunk besides I found this rock, didn't I?" Kara snapped back angrily.

Their bickering lasted until they arrived in the chilly morgue that Cottle was sneaking a quick smoke in, "Fighting already?" he noted.

"No," they both said in unison before giving each other disparaging looks.

"What's the story, Doc?" Tigh continued, trying not to look at Christina's body, which was covered by a sheet but still inexplicably distressing him. He mentally shook himself, he had probably seen hundreds of bodies in his time and there was nothing different about this one. Except he could shake the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach; it was same feeling he got when the eight dying in Galactica's infirmary had called him father.

Cottle sighed, picking up a clipboard and stubbing out his cigarette in a metal dish, "Not good, the stab wound wasn't enough to kill her,"

"So she drowned?" Kara said achingly looking down on the familiar face that Christina shared with so many others.

"As far as I can tell she dragged herself onto the banks and…died of exposure," Cottle said scratching the corner of his eye, "And that's not all, this young lady was pregnant…" he coughed unhappily.

"Frak," Kara sighed, clutching her temple, "So, whoever did this killed a baby, frakker,"

"I think its time to talk to Christina's bunkmates," Tigh grimaced, "We need to find out who the father is,"

Christina had lived with three other Cylons, a fellow eight named Jocasta and two sixes named Mia and Rachel. The tent they lived in was cramped, there was barely enough room for the two sets of bunk beds they slept in but there were homey, feminine touches; a vase of flowers at the foot of one bed, dirty boots arranged neatly by the entrance and a colourful rug that decorated the little floor space they had.

When Tigh and Kara entered the tent it was quite except for the sniffling tears from a red eyed Jocasta who being comforted by Mia. As soon as she saw Tigh, Jocasta was sent into floods of tears again and barrelled straight into his chest, stealing a long hug. The sixes looked surprised, Kara looked surprised but it was nothing on the confused, terrified look that Tigh wore. Tigh settled for giving the crying woman an uncertain pat on the head before guiding her back into the arms of Mia and ignoring wet patch of tears on his shirt.

"I'm sorry…" Jocasta gasped, calming down, "I just can't believe she's dead…I mean dead dead,"

"I know," Tigh said trying to sound comforting and wishing sincerely that Lee had sent someone more emotionally adjusted than Starbuck and himself to question the bereaved, "We just need you to tell us about what Christina was doing last night,"

Rachel, the apparent leader of the group, took charge, "We don't know, she wasn't hear,"

"Did she often spend the night away," Tigh inquired.

"Not every night," Rachel answered vaguely.

"Did she have any other…friends," Tigh continued.

"Ok…stop dancing around the question," Kara interrupted, "Was she frakking anybody?" she asked bluntly.

The three of them exchanged furtive looks before Rachel spoke again, "Yes," she said anxiously.

It's like pulling teeth, Kara groaned inwardly, "Who?" she demanded.

"Leoben Conoy," Rachel said darkly.

Frak me, now that was a surprise, Kara thought.

* * *

><p>Ok, so what do you think? You've probably guessed that I've completely disregarded the actual BSG ending. It's not that I didn't like it, I just didn't want to write about it.<p>

Anyway, I'm probably completely overestimating my ability to stick with a story, I always get carried away and plan them too long. But this one has been rattling around in my head for months, in some form or another. So I thought it was probably best to just write it and see what happens.


	2. Chapter 2

**Colony Count:** 3,630

**Date:** 1116 days after the fall of the Colonies

46 days after arriving on New Earth

Kara hadn't seen Leoben in weeks. She had seen others from his model and every time she did she experienced the stabbing feeling of familiarity and pure hate. She followed Tigh a couple of paces behind as they walked through the collection of tents occupied by the Cylons population. She noticed Tigh's staunch refusal to make eye contact with any of the fascinated and awed Cylons who observed their passage to Leoben's tent.

Rachel had directed them to the outskirts of the colony to a small military issue tent that looked like it had seen better days. She had seemed reluctant to provide anymore details about the supposed relationship between Leoben and the murdered Christina but could tell them that it had been going on for a while.

"I thought he was supposed to be obsessed with you," Tigh said lingering outside the tent.

"Yeah, well everybody's gotta frak," Kara replied curtly, silently attempting to sort through the mess that was in her head. She hated Leoben, the stupid frakking Cylon with his twisted prophecies and lies. He turned her head countless times, tortured her and lied to her about Kacey. Kara still saw her sometimes and every time she did it was like a kick in the gut; she'd be playing with the other children, sitting cross legged in the school tent or waiting in line for food with her mother, her real mother. Leoben had made her feel that way about the little girl, only to have her taken away from her.

It was probably a good thing. Kara had the feeling that she would be a terrible mother.

Tigh entered the tent first, feeling that it was best if he took the lead during this interrogation. They both had to duck through the entrance; Leoben's abode was a lot smaller than the one shared by Christina's friends. The space inside was predominantly occupied by a floor level bedroll and an unconscious figure lying face down on it.

"Gods, it stinks like a brewery in here," Tigh commented, he bent down to shake one of Leoben's booted feet roughly, "Wake up, you weirdo,"

Leoben stirred suddenly and looked up at his intruding guests with dishevelled hair and misty blue eyes. All he could manage to say was a mumbled, "What?"

"Come on Leoben, you usually have more to say for yourself than that," Kara said catching his attention. She noted the look that flashed across his face, like a cross between a look sick puppy and scolded schoolchild, "Smells like you had a party last night,"

Leoben rubbed his palms into his throbbing temple, "Cylons don't have much a tolerance for alcohol, we didn't often drink it on basestars,"

"Is that so," Tigh said, with mock interest before grabbing Leoben by the neck of one of his offensively patterned shirts and yanking him to his feet. Leoben had more than enough strength to fight back but was taken completely off guard and was still a little worse for wear, "Tell us about Christina,"

"Christina?" Leoben struggled to comprehend, "What about her?"

"When did you last see her?" Kara asked calmly.

"Yesterday morning," Leoben answered, simply but Kara couldn't tell if he was being truthful. Sometimes she wondered if Leoben even knew when he was telling the truth.

"Where were you last night," Tigh picked up the questioning but Leoben had obviously grasped where their conversation was leading.

"What's happened?" he asked evenly.

"Your friend's been murdered, Leoben, anything you'd like to say about that," Kara replied.

He didn't.

Ithaca didn't have jail but that was probably because up until that morning Ithaca didn't have a police force. But now Tigh and Kara had been unofficially appointed detectives after the colony's first major crime and they had to improvise.

So far, Ithaca had only one fully functioning public building, the hospital, but within a matter of weeks the second would be opened. The school building was nearing completion; it just needed roofing in some places and a bit of paint on the inside. It was Laura Roslin's project, after all what was the point in fleeing all the way to Earth if within a few generations they forgot how to read? So she divided her time between teaching the colony's children in the large meeting tent and supervising the construction of the school.

That morning she had been marvelling over the collection of desks, chairs and other school equipment that had been built by hand. It was stacked in one of the classrooms that were covered by a roof and it impressed her greatly because she didn't have the faintest clue how to make furniture. It was skills like this that had become valuable, a craftsman was more vital than an advertising executive or salesperson.

Her appreciation of Ithaca's craftsmanship was interrupted by the sound of a scuffle in the corridor outside and a loud thump as the door burst open.

"Colonel Tigh!" she exclaimed as she observed the former XO of Galactica manhandle the Cylon Leoben into her classroom, "What are you doing?"

"I need to borrow your classroom, Madame Pre…Roslin," he explained, correcting her title.

"What for?" she demanded as Tigh pushed Leoben down into one of the chairs.

"A holding cell," Tigh explained bluntly, beckoning forward a couple of former Galactica marines armed with battered guns and no doubt very little ammunition. Laura had heard about the murder down by the river, despite Lee's attempts to keep it quite.

"I'm a murder suspect," Leoben interjected with a flat tone and touch of…was that humour.

"No, Tigh, not here," Laura begged, "This is going to be a school, not a brig,"

"Where do you suggest I leave him?" Tigh asked, "The hospital? Besides this place is empty,"

Laura thought for a moment, "Alright, but if anything happens to this building I am coming for you," she pointed to Leoben before turning to Tigh, "and then you," she threatened.

Tigh nodded in assurance before issuing orders to the former marines who still addressed him as colonel. Meanwhile, Laura gathered the papers and blueprints for the school she had been examining.

"These chairs are very small," Leoben piped up randomly, receiving a perplexed look from Laura.

"That's because they're for children…" she began explaining slowly, "Wait are you drunk?"

Leoben shrugged and scratched his nose sadly. Laura backed away, not envying Tigh for his task.

As much fun as it was leading a drunken Leoben to the school, what with the dry heaving and stumbling, Kara stayed behind and began to search the tent. She didn't find much, a few more shirts that she was tempted to burn, an empty bottle of the alcohol that Joe the bartender had begun making from his crop of bad tasting root vegetables and that was it. Most of the humans had managed to gain a few possessions even those who had escaped the colonies with only the clothes on their backs and judging by the Cylons she had already met they had already started making their new homes more permanent by adding personal touches. Clearly not Leoben though. She was interrupted in her searching by Ellen Tigh.

"Kara," she said quietly entering the tent, "I heard the news, have you found anything?"

Kara remained reserved, "I'm not sure if I should tell you if I have,"

"Oh come on, Kara, you and Saul aren't the Caprica City PD," Ellen sighed, "Everybody in this colony has already heard what's happened,"

"Oh, yeah, why so interested?" Kara asked abruptly. Ellen Tigh didn't just stop by for chats; there was always a motive, even before she was a Cylon.

"You've accused Leoben of murdering one of his own, one of my own," Ellen explained, sounding strangely heartfelt, "But no matter what they've done, they'll always be…" 

"Your children…" Kara completed, barely suppressing a completely repulsed look. She didn't like to think about Ellen's maternal connection to the Cylons but they kind of were. During the first few days of settlement, Ellen made sure that her children were treated just the same as the rest of the humans, that they received equal food rations and supplies despite some vocal protests. Even now, once everything had settled down the Cylons still came to Ellen with every kind of problem, "I haven't found anything yet," she told her.

"I didn't think you would," Ellen said, it sounded like she just needed reassurance. She looked curiously around the tent, "He always was a strange one," 

Kara was about to tell Ellen that she didn't need to tell her that, when she lifted up the thin bedroll and exhaled heavily.

"What?" Ellen asked, leaning forward to see what Kara was seeing. A knife, only barely wiped bloodstains on it, was resting on the floor, "Oh," Ellen said sadly.

Leoben sat with his head against the varnished wood of one of the school desks. Kara remarked that he was sweating despite the cold weather. She remembered how, what seemed like decades, ago she had made the same observation on the Gemenon Traveller.

"All this has happened and will happen again," Leoben commented, sitting up and looking her dead on in the eye.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Kara said dismissively sitting opposite him, "Interrogator, victim, victim, interrogator. You aren't going to throw a table again?"

"I don't think Laura Roslin would be very happy if I did," Leoben said, touching the wooden surface calmingly.

"Good," Kara nodded; they were going to take this slowly. After all she wasn't torturing him for information as to the whereabouts of a nuclear device; this was just an interview, like you saw on those old cop shows, "Leoben, you are a lot of things, but you're not stupid, so why would leave the knife in your own tent?"

His facial expression didn't change, "Because I stabbed Christina and threw her body in the river,"

"No, you didn't," 

"No, I didn't,"

"But you can't prove you didn't,"

"Exactly," Leoben concluded.

"Did you sleep with her last night?" Kara inquired.

"No, I haven't for two weeks," Leoben replied immediately, "She didn't want to anymore," 

"Did that make you angry?" Kara baited.

Leoben frowned and almost laughed, "So, I killed her in a jealous lover's rage?"

"I know from experience, Leoben, that you are capable of almost anything," Kara said pointedly.

There was a long, painful pause.

"I love you,"

Kara punched him in the face. He saw it coming but didn't try to deflect her, just touched his bleeding lip and gave her the same look that just made her want to punch him again.

"She was pregnant, you know," Kara said spitefully breaking the news to incur a reaction from him.

"What?" he whispered. She got her reaction alright. His face broke completely, revealing a look of shock, happiness and then devastation. Before either one of them could say anything else, the doors burst open and a host of prominent Ithaca citizens burst in.

Lee Adama, followed closely by the Tighs, Sonja and a mildly interested looking Romo Lampkin, strode towards them.

"Alright, what's going on?" Lee addressed Kara, ignoring the bleeding and now pale looking Leoben.

Before Kara could explain Sonja interrupted, "You can't just arrest people without just cause, this is just prejudice,"

"We had a frakking cause," Tigh burst out, "A murder weapon in his tent and no alibi for the murder," 

"Saul, don't be stupid, why would he hide the murder weapon in his own tent?" Ellen said, joining the argument.

"Does anybody know what's going through his head?" Tigh responded.

Lee ignored the bickering around him and addressed Kara again, "Sonja has hired Romo to act as Leoben's legal representative,"

Kara rolled her eyes at Romo, "You'll represent just about anybody, won't you?"

"Hey, the first case in the history of Ithaca and you thought I was going to miss this," Romo shrugged, "Did you hit my client?" he said pointing to Leoben's bleeding lip.

"No, I just hit Leoben," Kara said, "He's not your client because he doesn't need a lawyer, he can go," 

Her words sent those around her into uproar. Lee began trying to ignore a triumphant Sonja and demanding Tigh to update him on their list of suspects while Tigh was arguing with Ellen. Romo sat back and watched the chaos while Leoben picked up his coat and quietly slipped out.

It was a long time before Tigh and Kara managed to convince Lee that they knew what they were doing. Tigh stepped out into the overcast outdoors and did up his coat, suspecting rain, "So, Starbuck?" he asked a faraway looking Kara, "Any great ideas or are we just letting murder suspects roam the colony now?"

"Thanks for backing me up," Kara told him. She had been surprised that during their ensuing argument with Lee that Tigh had agreed that Leoben wasn't the murderer.

"Yeah, well once that lawyer got involved I knew I wasn't going to be able to pin it on Leoben," Tigh grunted, "I'd have liked to though,"

"Truth, justice and the colonial way," Kara sighed, "That's what I like to hear,"

They rounded the corner, not going anywhere in particular, before walking into a downcast Leoben who was leaning against the school building.

"Kara," he said looking up, "I didn't tell you about when I saw Christina yesterday,"

"Oh yeah," Tigh interjected, "What happened?"

"She found me and told me that she didn't want to stay in her tent anymore and asked if I could have her moved," Leoben told them evenly.

"What could you have done about it?" Tigh asked.

"I…used to hold some sway over Cylon matters," said Leoben awkwardly.

"Until you made friends with Joe's distillery?" Tigh concluded.

"Yeah, I told her to talk to Sonja," Leoben continued, "I'm not sure if she did," 

"Did she say why she wanted to move?" Kara asked, not meeting his eyes.

"I guessed it was a problem with someone she was living with but she didn't say,"

"Ok, thanks," Kara muttered, Leoben moved off before she decided against her better judgement to offer some comfort, "Are you going to be ok?"

"No," Leoben said honestly, "I guess the miracle of Cylon birth was never supposed to happen,"

Tigh and Kara stood there in the darkening evening for a long time. Kara kept offering Tigh quick sideway glances.

"What Starbuck?" Tigh demanded, finally paying attention to her.

"You've got a lot in common," she said simply.

Tigh didn't answer but silently supposed they did. He and Leoben were both victims of failed Cylon pregnancies; he could never stop thinking about the potential life that was Liam Tigh.

And he guessed there was the drinking. But he had cut that out…mostly. 


End file.
